


Tainted Heart

by frostvalkyries



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Angst, Barry Allen is one of The Rogues, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-06-24 03:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15621510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostvalkyries/pseuds/frostvalkyries
Summary: "We are born, we live, we disappear. One of the chilling aspects of history is the swiftness with which it carries us into oblivion." -David EbershoffIris turned off her phone, sighing with disappointment. She thought she’d finally moved on, she hadn’t touched the files in months, but here she was, about to ask Cisco about it. With his skills he would have been able to help her six years ago, but by now it’s a cold case with no trail. Asking about it will do no good, the logical part of her brain supplies, but when has she ever listened to logic? Barry would never let the case go if their roles were reversed. Realistically, he’s probably six feet under for pissing off the wrong person in his quest to pardon his Dad, but, God, if he wasn’t and Iris didn’t find him, what kind of a friend would she be?





	1. Chapter 1

Iris turned off her phone, sighing with disappointment. She thought she’d finally moved on, she hadn’t touched the files in _months_ , but here she was, about to ask Cisco about it. With his skills he would have been able to help her six years ago, but by now it’s a cold case with no trail. Asking about it will do no good, the logical part of her brain supplies, but when has she ever listened to logic? Barry would never let the case go if their roles were reversed. Realistically, he’s probably six feet under for pissing off the wrong person in his quest to pardon his Dad, but, God, if he wasn’t and Iris didn’t find him, what kind of a friend would she be? 

Occasionally Iris liked to think about how he would be if he didn’t disappear all those years ago. No doubt would he be friends with Cisco and Caitlin. Iris can just imagine the nerdy conversations between him and Cisco, and Caitlin and Barry would be the dream team. He’d probably be hell bent on making her feel better after Ronnie died, even if they’d just met. Just because he was kind like that, and didn’t deserve to be a six year old cold case. 

“Iris, are you okay?” Cisco asked, making a questioning gesture with his hands. In one hand he held fabric glue, the other was pinning his jacket to the table as he fixed it up. The familiarity of the scene made Iris smile, taking her mind off the case file firmly gripped in her hand. Caitlin, from the medical room, looked up as well, curious about her friend’s behavior. 

“You both wouldn’t mind helping me look into a cold case, would you?” Iris asked, fighting the urge to bite her bottom lip. There were no reasons to be nervous about this, she decided. These two were some of the best people she’d ever met, there was no way that they would mock her. Caitlin would probably even relate, with Ronnie still fresh on her mind. 

Even if the fact they were caring friends wasn’t enough, they were also Frost and Vibe, Central’s super heroes. Helping was practically their middle names. One time Cisco, in full Vibe costume, got a cat down from a tree, that’s how stereotypically nice he was. 

Another worry bubbling up in Iris was, if they found him, would he be dead or alive? Popular belief is his Dad pissed off a mob goon, got killed, and then Barry went poking around and got himself and his friends killed. He’d even been acting odd before his disappearance. While at the time, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, looking back the signs were clear. He’d seemed nervous beneath the never ending smiles, frantically drumming his fingers on the table of the café and occasionally looking behind his shoulder. He’d lied and told them he ran out of money for rent, and was moving in with some friends at another address. He’d told them he was going to text them it when he moved in, but refused to tell them when or where that was. He then quickly switched the subject to something dumb, like watching Rom-Coms with his friend Liz. 

Then, the memory was clouded over with the one that gives her nightmares. When she’d showed up at his apartment, hoping he was still there. The door had been slightly off its hinges, like someone kicked it open. Her dread only grew when she pulled the door open. There were little drops of blood creating a chilling trail down the hall, mixed with the glass of the broken light bulbs. At that point she’d pulled out her phone, her fingers feeling numb as she dialed in a number. 

“Dad, I-I think something happened to Barry an-and,” she couldn’t finish the sentence with the tears beginning to free fall. 

Her Dad had bombarded her with questions as she finally ventured forward, following the trail to what used to be Barry’s bed room. The room was filled to the brim with boxes, neatly labeled. The trail, however, ended up a wall. Iris nearly puked at the sight, and the only unpacked thing, a photo of him with his parents, had bloody fingerprints at the edges and the glass of the frame was shattered as it sat on the floor. 

By the time the Police got there, Iris was on her knees, sobbing. Her Dad was brought in just to get her out, him barely holding himself together, just being strong for her. When they declared it a cold case three months later, neither had been able to hold it together. 

“Sure, what can we do?” Caitlin asked gently, as if she knew what was going on in Iris’s head. As if she knew this favor was a quite personal one. It was possible, Caitlin was good with sensing other people’s emotions, even if she herself could be a quote on quote ice queen. 

“I need you to look into the disappearances of Barry Allen, Sara Lance, Elizabeth “Liz” Williams, Donatello “Leo” Williams, and Mark Stewart,” Iris whispered, handing over the case file, refusing to make eye contact. This case was the whole reason she’d become an Officer and here she was, six years later, with no more evidence than she started with. 

“No way dude, That case was all over the news! How did you get assigned it?” Cisco questioned absent-mindedly as he began to type rapidly on the keyboard, leaving Caitlin to read through the files. “Not that I’m questioning your abilities or anything, it’s just kinda an old case,” Cisco added, trying to make sure Iris wasn’t offended at the implications of his last comment. Iris shrugged in response, trying to rally her voice so when she responded it wouldn’t show her emotions. She was past her days of crying over this case, it was beyond time to just solve it. 

“Well, I’m technically not supposed to be looking into it, but Barry was my best friend so I thought it deserved a little look through,” She explained, unreasonably proud of how well she got through that sentence. No cracks, no stutters, no tears. 

Before either of Central’s favorite heroes could question Iris, an alarm rang out. Iris ran over to the monitor. 

“Armed Robbery at Fourth and Collins!” Iris figured if Barry had waited six years, he could wait for the ten minutes stopping a robbery took. While she wanted to find him as fast as possible, she knew Central needed its protectors. She could hear the portal open, but she didn’t turn to look at her friends leave. Hacking into a camera that would give her at least a small view of the fight was more important.


	2. Chapter 2

Caitlin sighed as she stepped out of the portal in full Frost gear. Cisco was still zipping his jacket as he walked through behind her, but she didn’t turn to him. Instead, she looked at the six people in front of her. Two had guns pointed at the drivers, one in the tow truck the criminals brought, one in the armed car, and two were waiting in the middle. All but the two in the middle wore a standard black uniform, the middle both donning unique costumes. One wore a suit made fully of white leather, complete with white gloves and a jacket. Her mask, however, was black with greasepaint filling in the gaps from the mask to her eyes. Her long blonde hair was down to her shoulders. The other one in the middle wore a golden mask and a matching golden jacket. Her dark curled hair rested perfectly on shoulders, and she smiled at Caitlin and Cisco. She quickly zeroed in on Cisco and sent him a little wave. Caitlin could tell without even turning around that Cisco was bright red. The blonde tilted her head to the side. 

“Look who showed up to ruin our fun,” the golden mask girl sounded sad when she said it, and the blonde smirked at that. Caitlin was starting to feel like she walked into a trap, watching the two uncomfortably. 

“C’mon Goldie, have more faith in our fun than that,” Blonde remarks, and Caitlin decides she’s had enough. While Cisco was incapable of moving because a pretty girl waved at him, an armed car was being robbed. A thin layer of frost shot out of Caitlin’s hand at the girl with the golden mask. However, to her shock, the layer of frost went through the girl and coated a patch of road behind her. The blonde launched into action and flew at Caitlin while extending a staff. She barely managed to step out of the way before the staff hit her. 

Simultaneously, Cisco was trying to figure out how to fight the woman with the gold mask. Caitlin could hear each time she hit him, but it seemed to her like he got no hits in. Though, depending on how pretty she was up close, that might be intentional on his part. 

“Hey guys, They’re loading a big ass diamond onto their truck. You might wanna stop them,” Iris chimed in on Comms. Both Cisco and Caitlin tried to turn to look at the truck, letting their adversary land a hit. Caitlin took a staff to the jaw and remained standing, but Cisco landed on the ground after he got hit.

“Thanks Iris,” Caitlin breathed as she stepped back away from Blonde’s lunge. She needed to end the fight quickly if she was going to stop the others in the crew from leaving. Thinking fast, she iced the road where Blondie was going to land. When the blonde girl slipped, she quickly turned to ice the getaway car wheels. 

“Get in, we’ve got to leave!” one of the crew shouted, and blonde ran over to the car. Caitlin started to give chase when Blonde pointed to her friend and laughed. The girl with the golden mask didn’t appear to be making any move towards the already escaping car. 

“I wouldn’t, If you want your friend to live,” She threatened, one hand tightened around Cisco’s neck. Caitlin immediately thrust her hands up in a form of surrender. She watched helplessly as the thieves escaped with the diamond. 

“It doesn’t feel good to be a scapegoat, does it?” Cisco barely managed to say once the car disappeared from view. The girl with the curly hair smiled again. Her dark red lipstick made it so she reminded Caitlin of a predator watching her prey.

“I don’t recall being the scapegoat,” She let go of Cisco before fading. Cisco’s hand shot up to his rub his throat, but he stared at her as she disappeared.

“Where did she go?” Iris asked the two. Caitlin shook her head, confused. 

Her attention quickly shifted once she heard sirens. Cisco clearly heard them too, since he attempted to stand up. When he swayed Caitlin rushed to his side. She grabbed his arm, attempting to steady him. He sent her a weak smile as a thanks before he opened a portal. She pulled him through the portal, bracing herself for the indescribable feeling of traveling through dimensional tears.

Upon arrival at Star Labs, she quickly pulled Cisco into the medical room, barely even allowing him time to take off his glasses. 

“Can you breathe? Let me see if she made bruises,” Caitlin ordered, barley even giving Cisco time to nod. He pulled his hair out of the way. To Caitlin’s shock, there was no bruising. 

“Guys, what happened out there?” Iris asked from the monitors. Her arms were crossed and she looked slightly annoyed. “What? They stole the Kahndaq dynasty diamond and usually normal crooks are easy for you,” Iris threw her hands up in annoyance. Cisco pulled away from Caitlin.

“So metas are just normal crooks now? That girl was untouchable,” Cisco half joked, with a hand at his throat, likely trying to sole pain. Iris sighed and dropped her hands down to the counter top. 

“You’re right. It’s just that the diamond is gonna be a pain to recover,” Iris apologized. 

“What’s gonna be a pain to recover?” Joe asked as he entered the cortex, already sounding disappointed. Sometimes Caitlin got jealous of Iris because Iris still had a dad like Joe, one that cared and only wanted the best for her. Sometimes they had their problems but as far as Caitlin had ever seen, they always managed to work through it. 

“Some thieves just stole the Kahndaq dynasty diamond,” Iris explained and Joe sighed. 

“There were two thieves who were there specifically to fight us. Whoever planned it must have been very prepared,” Caitlin added to the conversation, hoping to make things more clear to Joe. Frost and Vibe weren’t typically losers and she felt the need to justify their unusual loss. 

“Whoever it was like they already knew they were gonna become a part of our Rogues Gallery! Oh, Rogues! That’s their name,” Cisco shouted, clearly pleased with himself.

“One name for both?” Caitlin asked and Cisco nodded, grinning. 

“Well, they’re obviously a team, of course they only get one name.”


End file.
